The news hit the Arlington Police Department like a ton of bricks: On Tuesday afternoon, a three-year veteran named Danial Vo shot and killed himself in the woods near his home on Tuesday. Some time earlier a fellow officer, Thomas Kantzos, had been arrested by the FBI. Both were the target of a criminal probe involving some type of computer-related fraud, Arlington PD announced, but it declined to give more details.

A federal criminal complaint filed against Kantzos today provides a much clearer picture of the allegations. According to court documents, Kantzos used his access to state and federal law enforcement databases to illegally run at least a half-dozen names and license plates for a suspected drug dealer. The first time this happened, in December 2011, the dealer discovered that the man with the laptop parked down the street was a member of a local drug task force and that someone had hidden a tracking device on his car.

But that just scratches the surface of Arlington PD's troubles. The drug dealer was arrested in January 2013 and became a cooperating witness. He told the FBI that Kantzos had been a customer for at least five years, regularly stocking up on steroids and human growth hormone. Once, he told agents, he had even delivered a shipment to Kantzos while the cop was in his squad car, in uniform and on duty.

But Kantzos wasn't the only one. Text messages (""oy from work wants a test and a dec....") and phone conversations revealed that a whole mess of Arlington cops were doing steroids. The dealer -- he's identified in court documents only as "CW," or cooperating witness -- had supplied several. At least two of the license plates checks were conducted by Kantzos' Arlington PD colleagues when he wasn't at work.

Following the his arrest, FBI agents built a criminal case by recording the dealer's texts and phone calls. During one conversation in April, Kantzos seemed concerned by the arrest of a couple of dealers who'd been selling steroids to his colleagues. He wanted to know if the dealer was connected at all to the arrestees and whether it would affect his supply.

"All our sources dried up," Kantzos explained, going on to promise that "You'll be back in business" and "I got like five guys that are fucking 'jonesin.'"

That was in April. The court documents don't say why the FBI waited to arrest him, nor do they name Vo, but then again, it wouldn't have any reason to. He's dead. Kantzos, meanwhile, was taken to Tarrant County Jail where he faces a charge of exceeding authorized access to a protected computer, which carries a maximum 10 years in prison and $250,000 fine.

As a society, we're really going to have to start thinking about how we can go about protecting ourselves from these lawless organizations and their members.

Maybe we need to form some sort of task-force populated by citizens that we entrust to uphold the law. We could arm them and give them authority to enforce the laws that We The People have decided constitute the framework of civilized society. We could get them special uniforms, badges . . . all that stuff . . .

Wait, hold on a second. So, is hgh a banned substance that they're not supposed to take? We're not talking cocaine or heroin here. These cops are in the line of fire, I honestly can't say that if I was in their position that I wouldn't try to use whatever shortcut that I could to protect myself.

@Sharon_Moreanus I doubt he'll get 10 years, but I wouldn't call that excessive. Abusing your access and authority like he did should have a stiff penalty. LEO's, judges, and prosecutors should be held to a higher standard since they are the ones entrusted with ensuring the rest of us comply with the law.

@doublecheese yeah, its rather interesting that he is only charged with the protected computer charge, where are the possession and distribution of steroid charges? He obviously set up other deals for other officers

@doublecheese @Sharon_Moreanus Police officers don't believe they should be held TO ANY STADARDS let alone higher. Pay close attention to any officers demeanor when stopping someone for a traffic sitation, intimidation, making up their own rules as they go along, sadly I hate to say it, because back in the 60's I hated the way officers were labeled with this, now I'm sure it is appropriate for todays officers=GESTAPO, BADGE HEAVY, STORM TROOPERS. Better than the average citizen. Free to disobey any law small or large as they see fit.

@texpwr7529@ScottsMerkin@doublecheese no I wont take it for what it is. If the officer was willing to abuse his position to obtain info for some drug deal for himself and some other officers, what else was he doing wrong, and what other regular citizens was he screwing over with his power?

@ScottsMerkin@doublecheese Take it for what it is.A drug dealer pimping the system.The cop ran one check in dec 2011 with no mention of any other till after the guy was arrested and cooperating over a year later.One would think he would have found a new suppler after the original one had attracted task force attention.But stupidity isn't a crime i guess.

@RTGolden1@ScottsMerkin@doublecheese after watching the news, the fed attny stated they brought this charge today, bc they had to get him off the streets/beat and that more would probably be coming after they finish the investigation